In college, I had a sports medicine professor who often railed against chiropractors. He argued that there was really no strong evidence that all the cracking and manipulation does patients any good. And there is some evidence it can do some harm. A study of studies on the topic confirmed my professor’s claims. A lot of people report a mild to medium worsening of symptoms and/or increased pain.
The bottom line: chiropractic manipulations, especially neck manipulations, carry a small risk of serious consequences, a large risk of minor adverse effects; and, depending on the indication, there is little or no evidence that they are effective.
I have never had any luck with chiropractors. Sometimes I went even though I knew in my gut it wasn’t doing any good, but I was in so much back pain, I felt I had to do something. On the other hand, about every two years my friend Andy has his back go out. He heads over to a family friend who is also a doctor. He gets one quick manipulation and boom, he is functioning again and fine in a couple of days.
The bottom line is that there really isn’t that much data that gives patients a certainty that going to a chiropractor is the right move for all the various symptoms they claim to treat. And that seems pretty weird considering there are a whole lot of chiropractors and whole lot of people who go to see them.
